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Old 12-29-2007, 11:02 PM   #17 (permalink)
bermuDa
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Location: CA
Sorry for the delay, folks. It's been a long couple of weeks and I dragged my feet for a while trying to determine whether to purchase the unit or not, mainly because I was worried that my service wouldn't be sufficient to power the heater. Despite the fact that it's a relatively small unit, it requires massive amounts of electricity (2 separate 2-pole 240v 40amp breakers, for a grand total of four 8awg wires O_O)

I called around to see what the local plumbers thought of this. I was a bit shocked to learn that none of them had heard of an electric tankless water heater. One coped with this by insisting they didn't exist, while another just assumed I didn't know I was talking about (not too far off the mark), and kept giving advice about installing a gas heater, quoting me $1300 in labor to install, etc. I gave him my info and he said he'd come by to give a quote, but he never called back (shocking).

Finally, I got a good reference and the guy came out to see what he could do. He'd also installed gas heaters, but in 20 years in the business, had never been asked about an electric tankless system. He poked around a bit and told me it should be a simple job, and that I could just do it myself. I'm tempted to think that he would just rather not mess with it.

Already seduced by the space and energy efficiency of the tankless system, and emboldened by the plumber's encouragement, I took the plunge and ordered one from an out-of-state website. With free shipping and no sales tax, I got the Bosch AE115 for about $426.

After having mentioned my predicament at work, my boss sent his handyman over to install the unit for me (and is footing the bill--I'm swooning). We spent all day setting things up: replacing some pretty nasty encrusted pipes, mounting the unit to the wall, cutting out some of the sheetrock and finally running the cabling to the breaker box, mercifully close to the heater. Got everything hooked up, flushed all the crap out of the line (learned that I should only use teflon tape to seal the threads, as goop sealant will clog the line). Hooked up the new breakers and flipped the switch. The unit turned on and began to heat the water, but as we turned the temperature knob up, the lights went out. We were overloading the breaker on the main panel feeding the guest house. I can get slightly steamy water coming out of the faucet, but the shower is just too much, even with all the other electronics turned off.

I was worried this would happen, so it's not completely unexpected, but it is unfortunate. The next step is to increase the power to the guest house, either by replacing the line or adding an additional one. I'll keep y'all posted.

The moral of the story thus far is: Installing an electric tankless water heater is not a job for a plumber, it's a job for an electrician.
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Last edited by bermuDa; 12-29-2007 at 11:05 PM..
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